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The National Park Service donated nearly 600 pounds of ground venison to a D.C. community kitchen earlier this week from a controversial hunt to control the area's deer population.

Twenty deer were culled from Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., in March as part of the park's new deer management system, according to the National Park Service.

On Wednesday, D.C. Central Kitchen posted on its Facebook page that it would be using the meat to prepare a "hearty venison and black bean chili."

"We love sending out local produce and meat in our meals and that's about as local as it gets!" the post stated.

The deer meat will provide 2,500 meals in one day and is scheduled to be served early next week, Stephen Kendall, D.C. Central Kitchen's procurement manager, told the Washington City Paper.

The venison was tested for chronic wasting disease, a neurological disease that is fatal to deer, but not known to be transmitted to humans, WTOP reported.

The hunt drew protests from some area residents and animal rights activists who lost a court battle to stop it, according to the Washington Post.

The decision to allow trained sharpshooters to cull the deer population was a result of the negative impacts of the animals on the park, the National Park service said.

"Their numbers have grown so large that they are eating nearly all the tree seedlings and preventing Rock Creek Park's forest from growing," the agency said in a statement.

The park will host another hunt in the fall, with the ultimate goal of reducing the deer population from more than 70 per square mile to 15-20 per square mile. The venison from that hunt will also be donated to a D.C. food bank or homeless shelter.